Mike Hohnen

Coaching for personal growth, change and development

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Finger scans let shoppers get done quickly

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Shoppers at a chain of Southern grocery stores can pay for purchases simply by pressing their thumb to a special screen, thanks to technology developed by San Francisco company Pay By Touch.

The Bay Area company says its method, which uses finger scans linked to customer’s financial accounts, will speed patrons through cashier lines, reduce merchants’ costs and cut fraud.

“Somebody can steal the last four digits of your social security number, your checking account or your PIN, but they can’t steal your fingerprint,” said Craig Ramsey, chief executive of Pay By Touch, launched last year.

During the coming months, finger-scanning payment systems are scheduled to be installed at all 116 stores in South Carolina and Georgia owned by grocery chain Piggly Wiggly Carolina.

Pay By Touch is one of several firms looking to make money from biometrics, the science of using biological properties such as fingerprints, voice recognition and retina scans to identify individuals. Interest in the field began as a way to identify people for security purposes, but now is being explored for its retail potential.

Other companies including Information Architects of Florida and Biometric Access of Texas are also developing fingerprint-secured retail transactions, according to NACHA-The Electronic Payments Association, a coalition of banks and credit unions. [Read more…] about Finger scans let shoppers get done quickly

You want it your way

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Picky, picky, picky.

Americans won’t eat — or drink — just anything anymore. Starbucks knows it. Whole Foods knows it. Frito-Lay knows it.

The driving forces are as diverse as the nation’s population. America is becoming a nation of ultraselective eaters. Selective as in: Gimme-a-world-of-choices-so-I-can-customize-my-diet. There’s a powerful sense of control in saying, ”Hold the bread” — or ”Hold the foam.”
[Read more…] about You want it your way

MSNBC – Got a quarter for an Atkins snack?

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https://msnbc.msn.com/id/4456943/

CHICAGO – The office vending machine, with its carbohydrate-laden cookies, candy bars and potato chips, is probably the last place the numerous Americans on low-carb diets would think to go for a snack.

Pure Foods LLC Friday announced the launch of the machines, which will include Atkins-branded shakes and bars, as well as other low-carb items. The machines will carry 17 snacks and eight low-carb beverages, the company said

DallasNews.com | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News

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Bizarre ad icons become heroes to sandwich chain

The pop culture question of the moment is: What the heck is Quiznos thinking?

The stars of the Denver-based sandwich chain’s new ad campaign have bulging eyes and human teeth, they’re covered with fur and they look like nothing so much as deformed gerbils.

Yet they’re a big hit.

“It has produced by far the largest consumer response we’ve received to any ad campaign we’ve launched before,” says Stacie Lange, vice president of public relations for Quiznos. “We wanted to break through the clutter of advertising and get noticed, and we’ve done that.”

Charlotte Observer
Nobody knows what “spong monkeys” are supposed to be, but for Quiznos sandwich shops, they’re a pop-culture hit.

Quiznos has logged more than 14,000 e-mails, letters and telephone calls about them.

“Some people love them, and others just want to know what they are,” Ms. Lange says. “People ask: ‘Are they hamsters? Are they potatoes?’ ”

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No one really knows, says Kerry Feuerman, vice chairman and group creative director for the Martin Agency, Quiznos’ advertising firm. “It’s part of their mystique,” he says.

Their creator – a 27-year-old British animator named Joel Veitch – calls them “spong monkeys.” Again, no one knows why, and Mr. Veitch couldn’t be reached to explain.

https://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/022504dnickspongmonkeys.19e81.html

Setting The Menu

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https://retailtrafficmag.com/ar/retail_setting_menu/index.htm
Restaurants and retail complement one another like a fine red wine and a juicy steak. Just ask any mall owner who has watched droves of stuffed customers migrating from Cheesecake Factory throughout the rest of the center after a meal. Moderately priced, full-service restaurants (which comprise 20 percent of the casual dining market) are in-demand anchors now that department store sales are slumping.

Patients' Rx: fast food?

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Giving the term ‘hospital food’ a whole new meaning

Craving a juicy hamburger? Can’t live another second without a cup of gourmet coffee?

Don’t let a minor inconvenience like being in the hospital get in your way.

More and more Dallas-Fort Worth hospitals are resembling shopping-mall food courts, with retail kiosks and counters offering everything from Subway sandwiches and McDonald’s fries to Starbucks coffee.

The trend “has a lot to do with customer satisfaction and our enduring love of comfort food,” said Johnny Sue Reynolds, a professor at the University of North Texas School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management. “When in times of stress, it feels good to go get a McDonald’s hamburger or something else familar.”

For the hospitals, restaurants and food kiosks can help ease budget pressures while pleasing patients, visitors and employees alike.

At the Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas kiosk, which sells Starbucks coffee, java sales have been so strong that operator Blue Mesa Coffee Co., a division of Dallas-based Mesa SW Restaurants, has proposals out to operate similar kiosks at four other North Texas hospitals.

“We are trying to be on the forefront of the trend, and are targeting every major hospital that doesn’t have existing contracts for their food services with a third-party provider,” said Jim Baron, a co-owner with his wife Liz Baron of Mesa SW.

“There’s typically a fairly lengthy approval process,” Baron added. “These deals tend to take a long time to pull off.”

Since opening the Presbyterian kiosk in October 2002, Blue Mesa has gained space in the front lobby of the hospital’s main building at a reduced rent, with utilities provided. Jim Baron said it’s a good marketing opportunity that grosses about $200,000 a year.

The kiosk, which also serves light breakfasts and lunches, is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. five days a week and is staffed by three of Mesa’s nearly 400 employees.

Jeff Light, administrative director of guest and support services at Presbyterian, said the fact that Blue Mesa supplies everything, including trained employees, ma [Read more…] about Patients' Rx: fast food?

Critical Conditions (washingtonpost.com)

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Critical Conditions
A professional restaurant-goer’s tips for getting the most out of the experience

By Tom Sietsema
The place: a restaurant somewhere in Washington. The maitre d’ welcomed me and my friends as if we were longtime customers, and the room — all smooth wood, soft banquettes and flattering light — was precisely where we wanted to find ourselves on a winter evening when the thermometer had plunged to near-Arctic numbers. Even before our water glasses were filled, the restaurant was making a fine first impression. read the full article [Read more…] about Critical Conditions (washingtonpost.com)